Selected Media

Thompson on Detroit

Reviews of Whose Detroit?

“A valuable addition to literature on race, labor, and urban life in postwar America. Whose Detroit? identifies the crucial link between shop floor and labor union issues, on the one hand, and broader urban political developments on the other.” — Robert H. Zieger, University of Florida

”Heather Thompson uncovers as few others have the rich variety of black community and workplace organizations in Detroit in the 1960s and 1970s. Her effort to show the different responses of city leaders and union leaders to racial issues challenges the tendency either to merge these two groups or to overlook the distinctions between them.” — Nancy Gabin, Purdue University

“Heather Thompson powerfully rewrites the narrative of the collapse of late-sixties liberalism and of the liberal/labor alliance. The 1967 riots were a turning point in the history of the Detroit Left, perhaps the most important radical community in the country during this period. Rather than accept the riots as a product of rising black militancy, impatience, and scapegoating of ‘whitey,’ Thompson argues that they played a key role in the ascendance of the Black Power movement.” — Robin D. G. Kelley, New York University

“Thompson illuminates themes of race, labor, and politics in Detroit’s history during the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s, revealing much about the interplay of forces central to American life. . . . Thompson presents a vivid portrait of key courtroom battles against racial injustice. . . . This first-rate contribution to a better understanding of the dynamics shaping US cities captures the flavor and drama of the Detroit struggle. All levels and collections.” — Choice, September 2002

“Thompson has spent much of her adult life researching Detroit’s recent history. The result is a book that describes how a ferocious battle for control of the city took place after the 1967 riot. Her conclusion: White conservatives lost. Black liberals won.” — Bill McGraw, Motor City Journal, March 22, 2002

“The author presents a study of social conflict in Detroit in the 1960s and 1970s, which remained unabated despite a massive infusion of Great Society programs.” — Business Horizons, January-February 2003

“Thompson’s study is a triumph of social and political history. She connects in a most engaging style events on the street, the factory floor, and the courtroom, and convincingly shows the political realignments that have remade Detroit.” —John F. Lyons, Joliet Junior College, Labour/Le Travail